Joao Felix Would’ve Been Under More Pressure At Barcelona – Joao Mario

Atletico Madrid star, Joao Felix should’ve signed for Barcelona, ex Portugal international Joao Mario, has said.

Mario believes that Atletico’s Italian system of football will raise issues for the talented youngster the longer he stays there.

According to him, the pressure will be greater on Joao if he was playing alongside Messi but the style of play would be more suitable for the Portuguese star.

He added that Atletico definitely expected more from Felix but a club should not put too much pressure on a young player to be the savior on the pitch.

His words, “Atletico are one of those teams that, seen from the outside, is very well worked out, as if it were an Italian team playing in Spain.

“Of course, moving from Benfica, which plays 80% of the game in an organised attack, to Atletico, and with even more pressure due to the price, is not easy in terms of adaptation.

“Being, for example, at Barcelona, ​​of course the pressure would be greater but the style of play would be more suitable.”

“The first time I trained with him I noticed him right away; there are players who I really like to watch play and Joao Felix is one of them.

“The value of the transfer that is paid for a player does not weigh on us during the game. You try to remove yourself as much as possible from that factor, but obviously you know the investment that was made and you want to repay it, so it ends up influencing in some way.

“In the case of Joao Felix, it is natural to talk about weight [of expectation], but if you buy a player for that amount when he is 19, you cannot expect the boy to be the salvation of all the problems.”